Tarot Templates: A Card A Day Creates Magic

Tarot can be used for many things including futurecasting. This blog will focus on Tarot as a tool for introspection including spreads, readings, individual card explorations and investigating themes of Tarot. You can expect discussions of magical uses of Tarot as well. If you have a question, please send it for possible inclusion in a blog topic.

The Gods Themselves

It used to be able to be said that the system known as Tarot is completely unrelated to paganism. Many of the symbols are Christian and there is a tie to the Catholic Church. I could argue that Tarot is an essentially secretive, coded system designed for an esoteric following. And that may have been true up until the early 1900's when knowledge began to shake loose from the tight-lipped orders of that time. With the advent of A.E. Waite's The Pictorial Key To Tarot, things began to shift.

Now it can be said that Tarot is a useful tool for pagans as well as other paths. Where before only Christ was on the cross for the Hanged Man and the High Priestess represented Sophia, wife of God, now we have more flexibility.

I will not delve into the Christian philosophy since that is not my background. What I do want to look at is how we can see the Gods Themselves in Tarot. But I'm not going to do this with the Major Arcana (definition: Major Arcana are the twenty-two cards from Fool to World.) Instead I want to use the court cards of the Minor Arcana (definition: Minor Arcana are the 58 cards of the four suits.)

My view of Deity is a personal one. I chat with Themselves rather than approach as a supplicant. To that end, I can see the King and Queen of each suit as various aspects of God and Goddess. I will give you mine along with some other choices. I tend towards the Greco-Roman and Celtic pantheons. I hope you will tell me your choices in the comments.

For Wands, the suit of passion and spirituality, I use fire as the element. The King of Wands could be Hespahaetus or Ares while the Queen might be one of the fire goddesses such as Pele or Amaterasu or Sunna. I would call on this Court to be fired up to finish projects.

I see Swords, Air, as the suit of mental endeavors, technology and learning. For this King, Mercury is an obvious choice, but I would also assign Thoth or Odin. Swords, for me, are not inherently war-like. The Queen of this mental suit could be Athena/Diana or Sophia. My needs for this suit would be to enhance learning or begin a project.

I assign Cups, water, the suit of emotions and love to water. The King of Cups is the God of Love so he could be seen as Eros or Kamadeva or even Zeus who seemed to have a particular interest in sowing love everywhere. The Queen of Cups would be Aphrodite/Venus or Psyche. Ishtar would be another queen of love. I would call on this court to help me in matters of loving myself and being open to love.

Finally, Pentacles, Earth, are the suit that rule money, family and community. Our Pentacle King would be Geb or Saturn. Another could be Bacchus although a case could be made for him to be a King of Cups. The Queen here is Hestia/Ceres or Vesta. Working with these court cards would be for health and wealth and harmony.

Here is a working you can do with Tarot to foster a happy home environment.

Pull out the King and Queen of Earth. Place them on your altar. Write your intention on a piece of paper.

What about you? Do you have specific Deities that you use for the courts? I’d love to hear who you use.

Deck used for images: Joie de Vivre Tarot by Paulina Cassidy, U.S. Games Systems

Professional Tarot conversationalist, Arwen Lynch has worked with Tarot as a vehicle for personal transformation since 1980. Her personal philosophy is that Tarot is best used to correct your life course. She is a published author (in romance, as Marilu Mann) as well as past president of the American Tarot Association (4/1/2007-4/1/2014). She specializes in helping people who are determined find their joy and writers who want to finish their book. She's an initiate of Wicca.